Four months after Mehul Choksi, the fugitive diamond trader wanted in India for the alleged Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case, was arrested in Belgium, India sent a letter of assurance to the country’s government, saying it will keep him in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail complex, “if extradited”.
Choksi was arrested in Belgium in April on the basis of an extradition request sent by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Last month, his bail plea was turned down by a court of appeal in Belgium, just ahead of his extradition hearing before a court in that country.
In a letter sent on September 4 to the authorities in Belgium, Rakesh Kumar Pandey, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), said that the Indian government has sought the extradition of Choksi from Belgium to face trial in India. Pandey said it has been learnt that the extradition proceedings for the surrender of Choksi have advanced before the Chambers of Indictment, Antwerp.
“The Centre, on the basis of a report from the Maharashtra government, assures that Choksi will be held at Barrack No. 12, Arthur Road jail complex. It is also assured that he will be kept in a cell in which he will get a minimum of three square meters of personal space (not including furniture) throughout the period of his prospective detention (pre-trial and post-conviction) in case he is found guilty,” Pandey said in his letter.
In his letter, Pandey also assured that the detention centre in which he is to be kept has provisions for a clean, thick cotton mat, pillow, bed sheet, and blanket. “A metal frame/wooden bed can also be provided on medical grounds. Adequate light, ventilation and storage for permitted personal belongings are available,” the officer added in the letter.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted in the alleged Punjab National Bank fraud case that they allegedly orchestrated through fraudulent Letters of Undertaking in connivance with some bank officials at the Brady House branch in Mumbai.
